Sports India

Sachin Tendulkar today returned to India’s one-day squad after a long injury layoff while all-rounder Dinesh Mongia earned a surprise recall for the upcoming cricket tri-series in Sri Lanka. Tendulkar, out of action for close to four months following a shoulder surgery, expectedly found his way back into the 15-member team after being declared fit two days back.

Punjab all-rounder Mongia was rewarded for his fine show in English county with a berth in the squad announced by Cricket Board Secretary Niranjan Shah after a one and a half hour meeting of the five-member selection panel here.

Opener Robin Uthappa and middle-order batsman Venugopala Rao were left out of the squad that recently lost a one-day series to the West Indies 4-1.

The national selectors also chose to ignore veteran leg spinner Anil Kumble who has been out of the Indian one-day scheme for long but was widely speculated to stage a comeback after emerging as the highest wicket-taker in the Tests in the Caribbean with 23 scalps.

However, Chief Selector Kiran More said that the selectors had a “right plan” in mind for the experienced spinner to make a comeback to the shorter version of the game.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, currently testing himself out for Northamptonshire in English county, continued to find himself out of favour.

Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan, also seeking to make his way back into the team through the county route, was ignored despite a decent performance for Worcestershire.

More said Mongia was preferred ahead of Zaheer as the team needed a variety in the spin department.

“Mongia can be useful as a left-arm spin option since both Harbhajan and Powar are off-spinners,” More said.

“We are looking towards the future. Mongia is an ideal all rounder. He also bowls left-arm. He had good county stints as well as domestic season.”

The tri-series, involving South Africa as the third team, and beginning in Colombo on August 14, will be the first international outing for the 29-year-old Mongia in more than a year. He had played his last one-day international against Pakistan in New Delhi in April, 2005. Mongia is yet to do justice to his potential, having scored 1073 runs at an average of 27.51 in 51 matches so far.

On Tendulkar, More said, “We had called physio John Gloster for the meeting and he gave us the full report of his fitness. He was with Sachin for three days and he is absolutely satisfied with his condition.

“He has played five matches for Lashings. He has also bowled well and is certainly fit. Sachin himself is very keen to join the team in Sri Lanka.

More justified Kumble’s exclusion by stating that the selectors had some plans in mind for the bowler’s comeback.

“We have discussed it with him. He is OK with it and has taken it into his stride. We have some plans in our mind for him,” he said, probably indicating that the bowler could be called at the bigger stage – the Champions Trophy to be hosted by the country later this year.

Singnificantly, More said henceforth there would not be many changes in the team, other than the odd one or two but also added that the doors were not close on anyone.

“It is not that Uthappa and Rao are sidelined. The wickets in Sri Lanka are not very bouncy and not according to their game.

“We also considered Zaheer Khan but he did not fit into our plans. We have taken his performances in county and domestic matches into account. He can always come back to the team.” More said the “biggest failure” in the West Indies was batting.

“But there is no problem because it was the only defeat in last one year and there is nothing to get panicky about. At the moment, tri-series and Champions Trophy are the most important things for us. “Overall we are happy with the team’s performances and the statistics have shown that,” he added.

The Sri Lanka bound team will undergo a fitness camp in Bangalore from July 25 to August 1 followed by a cricket skills specific camp from August 6 to 10. The team will leave for the Sri Lankan capital on the night of August 10. Shah said Sanjay Jagdale will accompany the team as manager.

Team: Rahul Dravid (capt), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohd Kaif, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Mongia, M S Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, R P Singh, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh and Ramesh Powar.